© Ewan-M

Lantana, W1T 1SN

A friendly Australian-run cafe and takeaway off Goodge Street. It also has another branch in Shoreditch, called Salvation Jane.

Charlotte Place may be a tiny little pedestrian side-street, but it's already got possibly the best sandwich shop in Fitzrovia (Salumeria Dino) and a pretty decent burrito place, with new shops and galleries opening all the time.

If you can possibly make it past any of these, Lantana is every bit up to the standard set by their opposition, so yet one more reason not to bother with the Pret on the corner, though be warned that at lunchtime, it can get very crowded, as there's not a great deal of space inside. However, since around 2011, it has opened into the neighbouring premises (at 14 Charlotte Place) to offer takeaway foods and coffee ("Lantana Out"). Typical offerings might be salad boxes, or filled croissants photo, as well as financiers, muffins and other sweet items.

Inside the main cafe ("Lantana In") are a number of tables arranged in a long, thin, slightly subterranean space with natural light coming in down the back. Salads and pies are set out on the counter photo of counter, with takeaway boxes available (smaller £4.50, larger £6), into which can be placed any combination of these. Ewan had some of a quinoa salad, as well as roast vegetables, all of which were top-notch, very tasty. There are also cakes, brownies and muffins.

A particular focus for the cafe is clearly their extensive breakfast menu, which is served from 8am-noon photo of menu. Fry-ups are avoided in favour of some very tasty-sounding combinations. Ewan tried the grilled halloumi breakfast, which at £9 wasn't cheap, but came with a generous amount of halloumi perched atop grilled field mushrooms and sautéed spinach, very tasty sourdough bread, and roast tomatoes, all topped by a perfectly-done poached egg photo.

Local Australian-run cafes already have proven expertise in making coffee, and Lantana is possibly better than these even — Ewan's 'long black' (a black Americano) took a little wait to make, but was far superior to any others he's had in the area, and cappuccinos have been perfectly executed and attractively presented photo. Most of the coffees hover around the £2 mark for the smaller sizes (and £2.50 for a cappuccino). Having returned on a number of occasions over the years, the quality of coffee has been consistently great.

Service is impeccably friendly, even chatty — something of a rarity in London, it must be said.

Accessibility: Access to the cafe is down three large steps.
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